Part 27: SalaiaThis is a cardboard-bound journal, standard except for the golden pentagram which graces the front cover. The script is elvish, and flowing. You vaguely recall seeing her use it in her prison journal, but fortunately, it is one of the many languages you know. "You're not in Kansas anymore."
Those were the first words I heard when I set foot inside this place... Yes, they're odd first words... I think it's a reference to a book or something. I don't really know.
It's so different here... It's not hard to imagine that it's another world. But at the same time, there are elements of things that are the same... It's amazing. Everything's amazing.
It's been a long time since I wrote a journal entry, but apparently I'm supposed to now. I don't really have a problem with it... I just wish I had my old journals with me. I don't want to write my stories all over again.
~~~ I stood in Mr Frog's laboratory, wearing my new Ballpoint suit. I felt... tall... like I could take on the world. Today was the day I was going to see my sister. Though very much afraid of what might happen, I somehow felt sure of myself. I felt confident, even.
Mr Frog's low voice rang clear across the room as he paced, hands behind his back. "This espionage attempt will be assuredly different than the previous excursion for all three of you." I stole a glance at Urist as Mr Frog continued, but both Urist and Hans, standing by my side, stayed as erect and motionless as soldiers... which they were. "If Ballpoint reaches the conclusion that you intrude upon their primary location of operation, they will appropriate everything they possess towards your capture. After the convoluted destruction you created during the previous catastrophic escapade," here he glared at us, "you'll require the incorporation of complete discreetness into your technique if your intentions involve survival." He ceased pacing and turned to Wari, giving her a nod. "Wari," he said, indicating he wanted her to continue where he'd left off.
"We'll be putting you here," Wari said, tapping a large map with a ruler. She continued, but I was so excited I could hardly hear her. I was with Urist again, and I was going to find my sister. So much had happened in the last several weeks...
Splint and someone named Rose had discovered "a conspiracy", and it had turned out that Reudh's odd behavior was due to alcohol poisoning... something unheard of until now. For some reason, Mr Frog suspected Ballpoint.
Wari and Mr Frog had started working together... actually, Mr Frog seemed to be siding with Parasol, even if he wouldn't join them outright. He'd changed a lot since I met him... he was no longer just in it to survive. No longer was he doing things only for the sake of science. Instead, he said he was doing what he was doing because he felt it's
right. He never said it... but I think he thought
I was the reason for that change.
Tomio and Wari were involved in something, too, so long as I'm talking about Wari. I'm not exactly sure what... all I know is that she got onto me once for not watching my back as I returned to Orodogoth's "headquarters". She said he'd followed me back, and that Talvi almost found her, too.
Talvi had started working out... and like everything else, she'd excelled at it. She managed to get herself down at least fifty pounds... and she sure did look muscular after that. Whenever I passed her in the corridors of the fortress, she would give me a strange look, though...
"Vanya!" Someone startled me from my thoughts. "Are you even listening?"
I nodded. "Yes, Wari... Mr Frog's miniportal is going to put us in the storage facility at Ballpoint."
I saw a frown flit across her face, as she prompted, "And...?"
Unfortunately, I hadn't listened well enough to know, and I could only shake my head, ashamed.
Mr Frog had been leaning against a wall with his arms crossed, watching us, but now he came forwards. "You'll exit Ballpoint Technology's premises without contacting your sibling. Though I assure you I'm deeply apologetic, there simply isn't going to be an opportunity."
"What?!?" I exclaimed, glancing about at everyone's sympathetic expressions. "But... you can't! I've waited so long! I
have to get her back!"
"No." Mr Frog shook his head sternly. "It will compromise the mission. I
need that PEA to ensure the survival of this military outpost, and the most successful approach to this particular problem involves brevity."
"I am sorry, Vanya," Urist said regretfully, tilting his head slightly towards me.
I turned towards him indignantly. "You
knew? You
knew I wouldn't get to talk to my sister?" I couldn't believe it. Why would Mr Frog have told him, and not me? And would Urist not have told me? He'd only been back for a few weeks, and Mr Frog had tried to keep us separated as much as possible.
"Stupid, stupid girl," Mr Frog muttered under his breath. "Your survival is critical to the success of the mission. Contacting your sister is dangerous, and there's no guarantee you'd succeed in converting her. However, there
is every indication it would slow your return, and more importantly, you could be killed. I can't allow that."
I stared at them openmouthed as Mr Frog activated the portal and handed me the portal bracelet. Urist and Hans walked through, Hans giving me a sad frown as he left.
"Go on," Wari whispered from behind my left shoulder. "I'm sorry. You'll get her back someday, I promise."
For a third time I walked through the shimmering air, praying to the gods that it wouldn't be the last. I was more than upset... I just wanted to get the mission done with.
Everything shifted... space unraveling, twisting... I felt dead, duplicated, disconnected from reality, disjointed questions running through my mind:
is this what ghosts feel like? I stood inside Ballpoint.
"Shh," Urist warned me, pointing at a chatting group of soldiers far ahead. We stood in a darkened corner of Ballpoint's massive storage warehouse, the towering pillars of shelving holding up the ceiling so far above. Urist and Hans stood in front of me.
I grimaced and whispered back, "What do we do?"
"Hans and I are going to create a distraction," he said quietly. "We will meet you back here when it is done. You have the location of Mr Frog's PEA, so get it, and come back here to wait for us."
Their plan seemed too dangerous, and I didn't like it. "When did you discuss this?"
"You spent a long time gettin' into the portal, Missus," Hans said in a low voice. "We will be fine, don't you worry. The hallways here are mostly empty, y'know."
I didn't even have a chance to protest... they left so quickly.
It wasn't long before it happened: the mass of chatting, laughing Ballpoint soldiers suddenly quieted and jogged towards the exit. Urist and Hans had clearly succeeded. Praying they were all right, I left the shadows myself, moving towards the shelving coordinates of Mr Frog's PEA. I had them written on my hand in pen: "XFY, 1393, 3"... just like Halion had told me the last time I was there... The memory of him crossed my mind again, and the memory of the woman I'd talked to just before I'd seen him lying dead on the floor... the woman with the golden bracelet. The woman who was my sister. I hadn't even recognized her at the time.
Giant mechanical spiders, the warehouse's automated caretakers, traversed the shelves overhead as I walked through the aisles. Nobody seemed to be piloting them, and I wondered why...
Much of what happened after that was because I couldn't stay focused on my mission.
~~~ I stood in front of the empty shelf again, just where I'd been the time before. Holding my breath, I reached out, carefully, carefully moving my hand downwards through the empty space, and soon felt something solid beneath my palm. The air shimmered, and a PEA appeared. It was Mr Frog's, and it looked just like one of the ones I'd seen him using at Spearbreakers. I slipped it into one of the pouches at my belt, turning back towards our rendezvous corner with a sigh... But then, I stopped, stunned...
Before me stood my sister.
She wore a suit similar to the one I'd worn each time I'd come to Ballpoint before - tight fitting and sleek. Even so, I felt like I was dreaming. She looked so much like me... only younger... she looked to be about 16. Memories rushed through my mind - playing together, eating together, laughing together...
Her words, dark and ominous, broke the silence. "When I heard there were intruders in the fortress, I knew you'd come here. I studied up on you after you came here last - you've been trying to impersonate me for years. You actually almost ruined my good name last time..." She drew a long, slender sword from a sheath at her waist as she spoke. "This time, you won't be leaving here alive. I am the
only Vanya Carena."
The dream was shattered. "Look at me! Look at how much alike we look!" I tried to reason with her, feeling panicked and short of breath. "We're sisters!"
Carena only laughed hatefully, saying, "Looking alike doesn't mean anything." With that, she lunged, her weapon slicing through the air.
I threw myself sideways, landing on my shoulders and rolling to my feet as Draconik had taught me. She lunged again, and I jumped through the shelving, tumbling out onto the other side. I was hardly through before Carena leapt in after me.
"Fight me, you coward!" she roared angrily, slicing at me again with her blade. I jumped backwards again, slightly unsteady on my feet. "Quit dancing away like a fool!"
"I
won't! I won't hurt you!" My voice trembled as I spoke, and I suddenly realized just how afraid I was of what she'd become.
"Then you will die even faster." She lunged again, and I sidestepped the stroke, but hardly in time - her blade slid across my leg. If it hadn't been for the carbon fiber armor I'm sure she would've severed it.
She looked at my leg in surprise. "Armor?"
I ignored her question, backing away and trying to put distance between us. "Carena, think back: do you remember who you practiced swordfighting with, in the mountainhome barracks?"
She looked up from my leg, drawing a sharp breath. "So you've been researching me, as well... For your information, I studied alone. And I became quite good at it, too." With these words, she made a running jump, flying through the air. I barely managed to duck below the blade as it whistled over my head. As she landed on the ground behind me, I turned and ran as fast as I could down the aisle. I knew the only chance I had was to keep away from her. I couldn't dodge forever.
"Come back here!" Carena screamed at me. Although I didn't look back, I could tell by her voice that she was running after me. "I'll shoot you!"
"My sister wouldn't shoot someone in the back!" I yelled back as bravely as I could. I knew my sister well enough to know she would
never kill someone at range. I just hoped they hadn't altered her mind to the point that I was wrong. I turned towards her, walking backwards while she approached me at a sprint. "Wasn't seven pretty young to be forced to leave home alone?" I called out in askance. "Don't you think your grandfather would've sent someone with you?"
"I hated that man!" she yelled, the loathing apparent in her voice. "I ran away from home, and no one came with me!" She reached me, slicing at me again and again, her sword twirling about. I ducked, dodged, sidestepped, and found myself backed against the corner of a shelf. She struck again, meaning to sever my head. I knew her moves. I could remember. We'd practiced together, years before.
I ducked, and the sword flew across the thin metal of the shelving corner. Slowly, it slipped, and I backed away from her as she watched it, her eyes widening as she realized what she'd done. All the way to the ceiling, the entire stack of shelves began to tip...
My aggressor stood motionless before them, looking upwards in stunned surprise. "Carena, run..." I urged her, turning hesitantly on my heel and starting to sprint away. "CARENA,
RUN!"
My yell seemed to snap her out of it, and as we fled, the shelves began to fall, cascading items - computers, weaponry, armor - pouring down behind us with an unimaginable noise. The entire set of shelving on my right seemed to rip itself away from the floor with a shuddering groan, twisting and crashing against the opposite side of the aisle. I looked up and watched in horrified fascination as they crushed one of the giant metal spiders between them in a shower of sparks. The damaged vehicle fell in smoking pieces to the floor, its clanging and clattering lost in the din.
I finally escaped, rushing out towards the warehouse doors and pausing to catch my breath. Carena did the same, turning to me and muttering, "That was
your fault."
I rolled my eyes. "Oh, sure, put the blame on me," I said sarcastically. I didn't realize it was a death threat until too late.
Carena came at me again in a fury. I ducked and dodged, sidestepping her strikes as best as I could, but she was learning. Suddenly she carved a sweeping stroke so close across the air that I had to throw myself backwards. She caught me behind the leg with another attack, and I fell onto the floor. As she swung towards my face to finish me, I snatched my vampiric daggers from my belt, holding them up in a cross, and caught her blade. She looked at me, panting, trying in vain to drive her sword closer to my head. I was panting, too, and sweating. I could hear Wari's voice in my mind:
"You know more about her than anyone else in this dimension or any other. Vanya... if anyone can manage it... it's you." "I
know you!" I yelled, sending her weapon to the side and scrambling to my feet. She sent another swipe at me; I deflected it. "You didn't have to carry any luggage to Spearbreakers, remember? I carried it for you!
I carried it! You were only ten! You had a crush on one of the boys in the caravan!"
"I didn't carry
any luggage!" she roared, striking with so much force that I slid across the smooth concrete floor as I blocked. "I never had anything!
Anything!"
I leapt back, trying to put distance between us, and prayed Urist would come back soon. I thought that if we could just get her to Spearbreakers, Mr Frog would be able to convince her... and we could take away her bracelet... I could see it glinting: a golden ring around her wrist, shaped just like the one that I'd once called mine. "You're not like this!" I insisted, as she approached me cautiously. "They're controlling you with that bracelet! It's not real gold, it's just a device designed to control your mind!" She hesitated, and it fueled my confidence. "You need to destroy it."
It was a foolish suggestion to make. "My
parents gave me this," she said, scowling. "My grandfather tried to keep it from me, but I've had it since I was a baby." She leapt at me again. I deflected her blade towards the ground, where it struck so quickly it threw sparks. She couldn't remember my strategies, or she'd have beaten me already... it was the one advantage I had. I knew her tactics.
"Don't you even know why you hate your grandfather?" I asked, trying to hit something she would've wondered about. "Haven't you ever stopped to think about it?"
But she didn't respond, striking violently, rapidly at me. I blocked, dodged, deflected, but finally she struck so hard it knocked one of my daggers from my sore hands. It skittered across the floor, and she kicked it away with her foot. She didn't seem triumphant about her accomplishment, though... only confused.
Taking her confusion as a sign that I was succeeding, I continued, even as she struck back at me. "You used to share a bed with someone at the mountainhome, don't you remember?" She struck again, and I deflected, gripping my dagger tightly with both hands.
"It was a friend," she said, though her voice betrayed her doubts.
I jumped and rolled to the side, getting to my feet and backing away. "It was
me!" I shouted. "It was me! Our grandfather hated us! You don't remember why you hated him, but that's because of
why!"
Her lip trembled as she ran at me again, flinging her sword with reckless abandon, trying to remove my head. I blocked her messy strokes as best as I could, and a hope welled in my heart:
I was getting through to her. "You don't remember! You couldn't remember! Ballpoint made you forget me, Carena! I'm
Vanya! I'm your sister!"
"
I don't have a sister!" she screamed in a fit of rage, whipping out with her sword so quickly I couldn't even see it. It struck me across the back of the arm, piercing the carbon fiber armor and biting into my skin. I screamed in pain, dropping my second dagger and clutching tightly at the wound.
"You
hit me!" I cried out in fear and disbelief. "You
hit me!" My eyes welled with tears at the pain.
"I'm
not your sister!" she growled, kicking my weapon away in disgust. Her face was contorted with loathing, frustration, confusion... I'm not sure even
she knew what she felt. She looked... scared.
I tried to scramble away as she approached, but found to my dismay I was backed against a wall. I didn't have anything left to pull. I was sure it was the end... but I still wasn't giving up on her: "You don't remember why you hate your grandfather because of what he did to me," I said quietly, tears streaking my face. "When he was angry, he would hit me. He wouldn't hit you, but he made you watch."
Her sword quavered visibly as she made a clumsy strike at my head. Ducking to avoid it, I heard it embed itself in the wall above me, the metal reverberating. Letting go of it, she pulled out her pistol and aimed it at my head.
"He gave you sweets afterwards to try to drive us apart," I whispered, shaking with repressed sobs and praying for a miracle. "But you remember
that, don't you, Salaia?"
The name struck her with all the force of a chiming bell tower, and she seemed to pause, her pistol beginning to tremble as she processed it.
She remembered her name. I could see it in her eyes: the doubt, the wondering, the questioning. So many things she couldn't explain, and I was explaining them for her. She backed up slowly, shaking her head and uncomfortably gripping her pistol with two hands to try to steady it. "No," she said forcefully, unsure of herself. "It's not true. You're
lying!"
I got to my feet, keeping pace with her as she backed away; ignoring the pistol aimed at my breast. "You don't ever remember having to get food for yourself at Spearbreakers, or anywhere else - I always got it for you," I said quietly, my hope refreshed. "You don't remember who took care of you when you were sick, but that was me, too. I was always there, protecting you. I
loved you, Salaia."
"Shut up," she said quietly, and then in a desperate scream: "SHUT UP!" Her pistol shook in her hands, and she gritted her teeth, aiming it alternately at my head and chest as she began to shake with sobs.
Stepping forwards, I pressed myself against the pistol, knowing full well that my life was on the line. Even if she killed me, I was going to get my sister back. "You don't remember having the bracelet before Spearbreakers because
Ballpoint gave it to you. It's made to make sure you don't get your old memories back," I said, my voice breaking with emotion. "
This isn't you! Your name is
Salaia, and
you're my sister!!"
For a moment, she paused, looking at me with doubtful, wondering eyes. Then, so, so slowly, watching me, she removed a trembling hand from her pistol, slipping her bracelet over her fingers. Her eyes left mine as she held it up, looking at it in the light. It rested there for a moment, seeming to take on such a paramount of importance as a framed image. Her eyes slowly shifted from it and back to mine, her lip trembled, and then...
she dropped it. As if in slow motion, we watched the bracelet together as it fell slowly towards the floor, spinning, tumbling end over end... and then, hitting the ground... it shattered... sending little golden pieces splintering in all directions.
Salaia's mouth fell open as her gaze wandered back up, up, to the quivering pistol she held at my breast, and finally to my eyes. A single tear rolled down her bewildered face. "I..."
Her sentence hung unfinished in the air: I heard a gunshot from behind us, and a bullet struck her chest, her weapon falling from her hand. Her face froze in an expression of pain and surprise.
"
NO!!!" I screamed, rushing forwards to catch her as her body crumpled to the ground, coming to a halt among the golden pieces. I started crying in earnest. "Please, Salaia, don't die... please..." Blood began to stain the dark gray of her Ballpoint suit, and she lay there with her eyes tightly shut, moaning in agony. I heard yelling coming from the direction of the warehouse doors, explosions, gunfire, the ricochet of bullets, but it sounded worlds away, and I prayed to every god I knew of for a miracle.
Salaia whimpered with pain, her eyes fluttering open as she struggled to focus on my face. I sobbed, clutching her hand tightly. "Please, stay with me," I begged her, my voice trembling. "
Please. I promised I'd come back for you, do you remember? We're going to go back to Spearbreakers. Everything's going to be okay. We're going to be together again, just like we used to be." I felt her squeeze my hand in response as she nodded weakly, blinking back tears. Slowly, deliberately, she moved, trying to get up.
Suddenly her face exploded in a spray of reddish mist, as someone fired two more rounds into her forehead.
"Vanya, are you all right?" a deep voice rumbled, grabbing me by the hand and pulling me roughly to my feet. Someone slipped my daggers into their sheaths. I looked up in shock...
It was Urist.
"You
killed her..." I said quietly, wide-eyed, shaking my head as I tried take it all in.
"I saw her from the door when I entered - she was about to kill you. I had no choice. Now come, we must hurry." Turning, he pulled me after him, firing a fusillade of shots towards the warehouse doors. Hans followed us, raining bullets towards our pursuers... I couldn't even keep up, stumbling as Urist dragged me along at a rapid pace. My legs refused to work.
I couldn't believe it. My sister was dead. I tried to pull away, tried to rush back to her body on the floor, but he held my wrist too tight. I shook, doubled over with sobs. "You
killed her!" I screamed, flailing uselessly against him. "
You! You monster,
you killed her!"
"Vanya, I did what I had to!" Urist yelled, tugging me along with one hand as he fired shots with the other. "
Everybody dies, Vanya! One Ballpoint soldier's life isn't worth losing you." A grenade landed beside us, and Hans swatted it away with a huge hand. Urist pulled me down as an RPG rushed overhead. The incessant sound of gunfire pounded in my ears, distant explosions echoing through the aisles.
I was in a daze... I felt dizzy, sick, and I couldn't even think straight... but more than anything else, I felt enraged. I'd lost my sister for a second time... and this time, she was never coming back. And it was all because of Urist. "Did you even stop to wonder who she was?" I shouted through my tears. "Would you even have
cared?"
"Enough!" Urist yelled in frustration. "Are all of our lives worth that of a single Ballpoint soldier?
Get that portal open!"
Struggling with the portal bracelet, I jerked it clumsily off my wrist, wiping my blurring eyes uselessly with my fingers. I pressed the button, and the air within it spiraled into oblivion. Moments later, a larger portal formed before me, and without even waiting for Urist and Hans, I stumbled through.
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Topic: [34.11] Spearbreakers - It shudders and begins to move (Read 2277929 times)